2020 Liqui-Moly Bathurst 12 Hour (Jan 31 - Feb 2)

[Umai Naa]

GT4 teams should have been told that if they couldn't get at least a handful of cars together, not to bother. Two cars is woeful.

However, I think it made for a cleaner race.

[JoeW04]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

GT4 teams should have been told that if they couldn't get at least a handful of cars together, not to bother. Two cars is woeful.

However, I think it made for a cleaner race.

Definitely made it easier for the GT3 cars but whether they’ll come back after all the carnage over the weekend is another thing. GT4 hasn’t taken off in that part of the world like it has here in the UK

[FAS33]

What a boring race that was. Could only bear to watch 15 laps.

[Mike Bell]

Each to their own.

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by FAS33

What a boring race that was. Could only bear to watch 15 laps.

Are you certain that 15 out of 314 laps is a representative sample from which to draw such a sweeping conclusion?

[GT6]

Well done Bentley

[Adam43]

Originally Posted by Anyopenroad

Are you certain that 15 out of 314 laps is a representative sample from which to draw such a sweeping conclusion?

In an endurance race.

I have a meme

[justracing]

Great race, my live viewing last night was interrupted by dinner guests, most inconsiderate! However just caught up courtesy of you tube, the Bentley is monster of a car and a deserved winner after some disappointing previous results. Having watched the Bentleys race live amid a full grid of British GT's at Brands Hatch I can confirm that they are pretty awesome machines and it must be a real skill to drive. Loved the fact that we had so many varied manufacturers involved.

[hoffman66]

As usual the endurance fans seem to think they are the only people that can justify an opinion of racing.

I merely say that I have watched the last few 12 hour races, probably 6-8 hours of each and enjoyed them far more than this one.

Similarly to Daytona there were few yellows, tons of green running, and that makes the race relatively processional, lack of proper multi class really does impact the main thing that multi class racing offers, lappery, and judgement. Yes it exists but not in the same way that it does at previous 12 hours in my book.

I do not watch races for incidents, and there were a few, but they do offer more creativity and reaction than races with hours of green running.

[Umai Naa]

Worth noting that Spa is a shorter track, and is all GT3. Still a compelling race.

[Akrapovic]

Yes, it's silly when people try to justify their opinion, often by listing credentials.

Anyway, regarding GT4 - I am a big advocate for multi-class racing, and I usually like it when faster classes are forced to lose time behind a slower class. Mexico WEC is a good example, with LMP1s struggling to pass in the esses.

However for this to work you have to have a decent amount of slower cars. Traffic is usually a case of give and take and it will balance itself out over a race. But if you only have 2-3 cars, then it probably won't balance out as well, and drivers will take more risks.

With GT4, you either need more cars, or remove it completely. Right now it doesn't provide value - just chicanes that are aggressively attacked by the Pros.

[Anyopenroad]

Originally Posted by Umai Naa

Worth noting that Spa is a shorter track, and is all GT3. Still a compelling race.

/pedant mode on

Spa is 7.0km, Mount Panorama is 6.2km

/pedant mode off

[MGDavid]

Originally Posted by hoffman66

A poor race in my view, great winners, but not the usual close finish

.

The best endurance race I've watched for years, like a book you can't put down, I watched all night in the UK and went to bed at 7 a.m.
How close a finish do you want, with 7 cars all on the lead lap? The pit stops were out of sync due to different strategies so the top 6 was constantly changing. The last 2 hours was mesmerising. Then there was the drama of the 2nd place Merc picking up that penalty during the splash-and-dash right at the end; schoolboy error - you couldn't make it up.
Of course the icing on the cake is Hindy (and his team) who I will freely admit I have a soft spot for, ever since I shared my car with him in a 6 hour race some years ago. If you're only watching from afar he really brings it alive. Good bloke.

[chunterer]

Well done Bentley but were they the 'real' winners?? A ridic amount of tyre failures throughout some leading to damage some not but certainly delaying the poor victims of it.

Was it the higher temps putting strain on the compounds catching the teams out?

I enjoyed the parts i watched and, well, does anyone need an excuse to watch a motor race at Mount Panorama? 😀

[Alan52]

Originally Posted by FAS33

What a boring race that was. Could only bear to watch 15 laps.

I know.The lack of constant safety cars to dumb down the race makes it difficult for Supercar fans.

[rich07]

Originally Posted by Alan52

I know.The lack of constant safety cars to dumb down the race makes it difficult for Supercar fans.

Haha have a like

[FAS33]

V8 Supercars was exactly like that race. not very exciting IMO.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by FAS33

V8 Supercars was exactly like that race. not very exciting IMO.

OK, assuming you’re not just trolling, how do you know the rest of the race was not exciting when you only watched 15 of the 314 laps.......

Talking of punctures, I did have a kip and missed the 8 Bentley spinning at the top of the mountain, which resulted in a SC and the car retiring? Or was the retirement unrelated to the puncture. Shame for that car after starting from the back of the grid due to pre-race dramas.

[champcarman]

Yes an entertaining race and worthy winners , pity the lack of Ferrari ‘s, there were 4 at The Bend Alms race a couple of weeks so but one only at Bathurst. Personally I prefer multi class races such as WEC , ALMS but BATHURST Kyle manse with GT3 only.

[champcarman]

Yes an entertaining race and worthy winners , pity the lack of Ferrari ‘s, there were 4 at The Bend Alms race a couple of weeks so but one only at Bathurst. Personally I prefer multi class races such as WEC , ALMS but BATHURST could manage with GT3 only.

[hoffman66]

As I say, if you think it was an amazing race fair play to you, I did not, I was looking forward to it massively after enjoying the last few more than any other race.

This for me just felt a little less interesting and more lame.

I guess the track does not help, not that easy to pass, unlike Daytona when the GT Pro race I could have watched for hours on end on its own, yes it was still good, but other than the start in the dark and a few other bits I simply was not as engaged as usual.

Some people like hotlapping for hours, endless green running, I like it being mixed up, weather, lapping, the odd incident, strategy. And I must have missed what all you lot saw as I got none of that really.

It was just OK, move on tot he next one and let's place less emphasis on it next year.

[Badlands99]

I thought it was a really brilliant race - one of the best endurance races for many a year.
Well done to The Bentley Boys - really deserved the win after the setbacks during qualifying - just a shame that the No 8 didn't make it home.

Thought that the race had a bit of everything. Some great, close racing between some of the best drivers in GT racing, incidents, good green flag racing and drama for almost the whole 12 hours. Also good to see so many different manufacturers competitive and if anybody says 'it's only down to BOP' then I would say that if this is BOP racing THEN 'BRING IT ON'.
Also, well done to the organisers in changing the stint time allowed for each driver- meant that there was also a little more strategy involved.

Some scary incidents, not helped by some very shoddy marshalling - the driver of the Marc car that hit the Merc in qualifying after its shunt with the Lambo said that he had absolutely no warning - no yellow flags and no in car warning! The marshals at the incident just did not react to the initial incident and what was a big accident in the first place became a much more serious incident. There were also a couple of issues during the race that left a little bit to be desired.

Other than that, really enjoyed the whole event. Well done also to the team covering the event. Excellent camera work and brilliant informative commentary from Hindy and the team and some really good interviews. If only we could have them added to the European races too!

[E.B]

Originally Posted by Mike Bell

Talking of punctures, I did have a kip and missed the 8 Bentley spinning at the top of the mountain, which resulted in a SC and the car retiring? Or was the retirement unrelated to the puncture. Shame for that car after starting from the back of the grid due to pre-race dramas.

Mike, not sure if you got to see the spin in which Oliver Jarvis managed to do a 540 coming down from the Dipper towards Forest Elbow without hitting anything. Shown in this video, link below.

https://www.supercars.com/videos/bat...rs-safety-car/

The reason for its retirement was more that being at such a narrow part of the track with a destroyed left hand tyre he was unable to do a spin turn to get back facing the right way, thus needing a flat bed to rescue him.... by the time that was over and he had been returned to the pits he was some 6 laps down.... possibly with some drive train damage from the spin.

[Mike Bell]

Originally Posted by E.B

Mike, #8- The reason for its retirement was more that being at such a narrow part of the track with a destroyed left hand tyre he was unable to do a spin turn to get back facing the right way, thus needing a flat bed to rescue him.... by the time that was over and he had been returned to the pits he was some 6 laps down.... possibly with some drive train damage from the spin.

Thanks, that’s what I was missing! I saw a replay but only of the spin, not the issue it caused.....

[IdealLine]

Honestly the race itself was pretty good! I for one enjoyed it, especially the first couple of hours. Also good on Bentley to finally get a win, they really worked hard for that! We've had better ones and closer finishes, sure, but it wasn't half bad either.

The race is however starting to lack in variety a little. In my personal opinion the grid was just too small this year, I like the multi-class racing element and seeing the locals mix it in with the international teams. It's a shame cars like the Sherrins BMW aren't competing in this anymore, even though I can imagine it to be very stressful as an Am driver in a slower car to be in between this field of Pro hotheads. Maybe a good way forward would be to go Pro/Am only, and try to expand the GT4 class further